Ahhh, nothing like starting off March with my chameleon model Christian as he shows off his wonderful new dreads. Well actually they’re not THAT new, but still a new look for him. This was our second shoot together and this time Christian really showed his strengths in modeling – offering up a multitude of faces, moods and expressions.

Of course, it’s the inherent severity of his initial presentation that gives an immediate curiosity to my photographic interests. Sometimes people wear the alternative look as a artsy sort of phase in their lives. Then you meet others for whom this look is a reflection of the turbulent and ofttimes traumatic nature of their lives.

That is my draw to photograph people like Christian. I know of their hidden whirlwinds of emotion. I feel the same as a gay man – not really fitting into either the straight or gay worlds – a person living outside the neat categories of class and stereotype. To maintain your individual spirit is a delight that intrigues my creative spirit…generating some playful images.

On a day where everything appears as a huge white canvas due to the blowing snow, it’s rather reassuring to turn back to the comfort of darkness and explore figures in space. I think every photographer has experimented at some point in their career with various exposure techniques. This is one of my favorites – painting with light.

It’s a simple technique – use some sort of light source to physically highlight and expose you subjects. The longer or slower you move the light, the more exposed the image so the brighter the subject. The tough part is that as the artist you are moving about in the field of view so caution is necessary to avoid becoming included in the image. The other challenge is working with film…there is NO preview. Oh and it’s good to note that this is not a multiple exposure. It all occurs in one opening of the shutter.

Of course, therein lies the fun of creation. It’s not until you have the film developed that you find out which techniques worked best. I haven’t tried this digitally. Newer cameras are so much more light sensitive, they may not be able to capture these results. I guess I need to try this sometime!

So this guy walks into my studio one day and says that he’d like some pictures… I know that sounds a bit like a lead into a joke, but that is basically how my shoot with this handsome young man came about. Recommended by a mutual friend, Jeff called and inquired about doing some photography. He was very comfortable with any and every creative suggestion. Unfortunately, after the shoot was complete Jeff moved away and was never seen again. I wish I had more material to fill out the story a bit, but unfortunately that’s all there is!!!

At least I have some fun images to look back and reflect. A few interesting ideas and one very fast model interaction. A visual “quickie”. Enjoy!

The Big Muskie – a larger than life mechanical monster that was responsible for carving huge chunks out of pristine Ohio soil in search of coal to fuel our ever glutinous appetite for power. A machine so large that its bucket could easily accommodate 2 Greyhound buses side by side. It was the largest of its kind and it was abandoned in 1991 – left to rust in the denuded Ohio countryside.

It was so large that it was visible for miles around, especially since it had removed all of the trees as well. AEP – the power company that owned this behemoth was only responsible for replacing the top layer of soil, not nearly enough for trees to regrow, so it still appears as a strange prairie. It was in this environment that I needed a model as powerful as the Muskie – a person to work with the rusting hulk before it was eventually demolished.

This is where a friend found in my gym became the next victim in my obsession with working nudes into scenes of forgotten world. So enter Mr. Greg G. – really sweet guy who’s a little kid at heart. (We had to make a stop on the way to the shoot at a McDonalds so he could pick up the latest toy in a Happy Meal.)

But no one that I knew at the time could compare with Greg’s physique and had the capacity to interact with this machine – strength to strength. And Greg was marvelous. He prided himself on being a natural bodybuilder – no steroids – and his body was blessed with the genes to enhance that natural musculature.

These chains on the Muskie supported the main bucket, each link the size of Greg’s torso and heavy enough to easily crush him, yet they easily compliment the other. I think for Greg this was a bit of an adventure too. We had to walk a little over a mile to reach the Muskie, every rise in the rolling ground brought the vision of this shovel closer but it wasn’t until you were directly next it that you realized how immense it really was!

Greg inside the bucket seemed like a doll. Only the strength of Greg’s legs seem to oppose the massive weight of the bucket pulley. It was an amazing visual exercise. And it was a welcomed sense of timing… not more than a year after the shoot, the Muskie was demolished. Only it’s bucket remains as a strange tourist attraction in Southeastern Ohio. It’s deep wounds still slowly healing. My last shot is of Greg in front of a gaping fjord carving by the Muskie.

Clay – a young man from Cincinnati whom I met through Mayhem and totally intrigued me with his “dark” persona. There was a quiet reluctance at first meeting, a sort of shyness one expects on the initial shoot but I liked the mind behind the handsome face. Clay seemed to have ideas and creative interests that kept our conversations going.

Of course these interactions lead to some great photographic concepts as well. These are from our first session.

What made matters even more exciting was Clay’s interest in photography. If someone asks me a question about photography it tends to trigger an unstoppable dissertation of everything and anything associated with the medium. And he kept right up, absorbing it all and not dissuaded from demonstrating his own enthusiasm.

Clay has since left the state for warmer climes, who could blame him. From what I hear through infrequent postings the creativity still exists and is being put to use. I hope that he finds his path in the Arts as we all do, wishing to someday capture his intriguing looks once again.

There’s always anticipated excitement for the upcoming days when New Years day occurs. You look back at what has happened, hopefully intending on pushing further into a better situation and carrying that through to your passions. Such is life in the arts almost on a daily basis. So today I look back onto another older set of images with another of my favorite models, AJ.

I always appreciated his creativity – his sense of seizing on an idea and trying a multitude of visual ideas to see what is most effective. It was definitely a process involving both the photographer and the model.

So enjoy these shots. Enjoy the Holidays. Prepare for the excitement of the New Year and all the adventure that ensues!

Sometimes I surprise myself at the actual amount of photos I’ve taken over the years. And when I think how many of those have been shared with the public, the number is quite infinitesimal. Part of my reasoning for this Blog is to expose these images to the light of day. Hey, I think there’s some good stuff here…why not…!

So why not start with some images from a studio shoot several winters ago with my models Anthony and Chris. A previous post had images from this session as well, but so many more that were just as good. It’s always difficult to arrange multiple models for a shoot, especially nowadays when transportation and schedules having become so difficult. You’d think with today’s technology that it would make these prospects easier, but sadly this is not the case.

These two young men have worked with me on a couple of occasions. Anthony has been particularly exciting to work with do to the fact that he has always been receptive to my weird and unusual schemes. And he’s another person who is quite comfortable in his own skin and will gladly take on the challenge of any situation or environment. Unfortunately, Anthony has moved out of state, now living in Texas, which makes photography difficult.

Now Chris hails from Cleveland and is another great guy to work with. As is the case with many a first time shoot, he was a bit reserved and nervous. But he seemed to take cues from Anthony on this shoot and opened up to various themes afterwards. This was also his first time modeling nude and was very worried about his partner’s thoughts. But recognizing the professionalism of everyone involved, I think he gradually became warmed to the thought realizing that this was all part of the creative process.

I think that that has always been difficult to convey to people who’ve never been in front of a camera in a professional sense – modeling in the nude is not any different than any other type of modeling other than the fact that you are devoid of clothing. And actually I think that figurative modeling requires even more skill because you have nothing but skin and gestures to convey meaning. You need to have a great sense of your body in space, how it looks and moves or else you’re no more than rock being slowly turned for the best angle. And you will come across in that same sense!

I really think that these two did an incredible job considering that they had just met. It shows great skill on their part to come into a scenario like this and run with it. So enjoy these images… there are more to come from the archives. And even more potentials for future creative sessions!

It still looks pretty good from the exterior, but the interior is slowly dissolving into nothing but framework. In spite of this, I was still able to eke out one more shoot and conduct photographic trials with a new model. Introducing Christian…

I first noticed Christian in a popular model networking website and was intrigued by his looks. He’s a very malleable sort, interested in challenges of the locations I frequently employ. He made it known that he likes the atypical in photography. I hoped he’d be fun to work with.

He moves. He’s playful with his expressions. He gives the camera various looks without exaggeration. He seems quite at ease in front of the lens without camping it up or overdoing it. He also loves the “darkness” of the images but doesn’t let that sentiment become overbearing. Actually, he’s pretty fun to shoot!

So now I think I have another creative spirit to work with. Unfortunately I threw him into this situation, the threat of demolition was too close to attempt a test shoot. He responded admirably. Now I look forward to future endeavors.

With my trigger finger getting a little itchy after the last couple of fun shoots, I realized it was time to find more accessible locations for further work. I have a couple of great models with the potential for a few more and it would not do them justice to work in the studio when these few urban relics still exist.

So having a unusually sunny winter Sunday at my disposal with relatively comfortable temperatures, I decided to check out a couple of spots I noted near my last shoot location that demanded my attention. The light was terrific!

It’s always a little risky checking these places out by yourself, so I took my trusty little alarm with me just to keep an eye on the car. It also helped alleviate the danger by having a police vehicle parked a few streets away with me visible – I’m sure he was watching me just to make sure there was no illegal activities going on. I snapped my pix and moved on! Logging these sites for future reference.

Vaughn is back! It has been a long time since I have had the access to another abandoned structure, but this is very different from my usual suspects. This is a building that has had a vey long performance history in Columbus, deemed obsolete and placed on the list for demolition even though it has been used almost daily until that day it closed. Another developers pipe dream… there’s money to be made on the land it resides.

Granted, it may not be the most beautiful structure downtown but it IS the home of the great Arnold Sports Festival named after Arnold Schwarzeneggar who has come to the city every year since 1989 to promote fitness. But no more! Arnold is out in the cold too! So it seems only fitting to celebrate the physical form in this empty building.

So it was my wonderful model Vaughn who first answered the call to action the visually explore and record a space soon to disappear. Unfortunately this also required dodging areas of active demolition, but Vaughn always is game for whatever environment you place him. Never shies away from a challenge. Of course, this is what yields an exciting image.

So it has been exciting to photograph in a building that has so immediately been abandoned and is awaiting the wrecking ball. So many times in the past my locations have been abandoned for quite a while, their histories seem so long ago. But with this place there’s a ghostly sense of recency. Not even enough time for dust to settle or cobwebs to form. A few more shots and then it’s gone…